16 thoughts on “Israeli Consul, StandWithUs Engage in Lawfare Against Olympia Food Coop – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. RE: “Through its campus activism, SWU has been recruiting in the community for some time. As did the David Project at Columbia, it found willing students or local community members prepared to claim their religion had been disrespected and they had been harrassed merely for being Jews. Anti-Semitism is a powerful canard.” ~ R.S.

    SAME AS IT EVER WAS, SAME AS IT EVER WAS: The Trial of Israel’s Campus Critics, by David Theo Goldberg and Saree Makdisi, Tikkun Magazine, September/October 2009

    (excerpt)…It is an extraordinary fact that no fewer than thirty-three distinct organizations – including AIPAC, the Zionist Organization of America, the American Jewish Congress, and the Jewish National Fund – are gathered together today as members or affiliates of the Israel on Campus Coalition. The coalition is an overwhelmingly powerful presence on American college campuses for which there is simply no equivalent on the Palestinian or Arab side. Its self-proclaimed mission is not merely to monitor our colleges and universities. That, after all, is the commitment of Campus Watch, which was started by pro-Israel activists in 2002. It is, rather (and in its own words), to generate “a pro-active, pro-Israel agenda on campus.”
    There is, accordingly, disproportionate and unbalanced intervention on campuses across the country by a coalition of well-funded organizations, who have no time for — and even less interest in — the niceties of intellectual exchange and academic process. Insinuation, accusation, and defamation have become the weapons of first resort to respond to argument and criticism directed at Israeli policies. As far as these outside pressure groups (and their campus representatives) are concerned, the intellectual and academic price that the scholarly community pays as a result of this kind of intervention amounts to little more than collateral damage…

    ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.tikkun.org/article.php/sept_oct_09_goldberg_makdisi

    1. dickerson – thank you so much for this link to the Tikkun article.

      A must-read for all those concerned with I/P matters, particularly as to the hasbara and collegiate tactics.

  2. “…one of the claims in the letter threatening a lawsuit was that last year’s vote had instilled “a climate of fear and terror for Jews.” Say what? A vote for a boycott instills terror and fear? This is food folks, not the Warsaw Ghetto.”

    No Sir, this is the thin edge of the wedge that starts with an innocent boycott but where will it end. See how the innocent BDS campaign has snowballed in Europe.

    “The old anti-Jewish libels are now aimed at the State of Israel”, says Stefano Gatti, one of the top researchers at the Center for Documentation in Milan.

    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4081264,00.html

    Or the hostile anti-Semitic campus environment at Rutgers University.

    ZOA Files Complaint Against Rutgers With Office For Civil Rights Because Of Hostile Environment For Jewish Students

    http://www.zoa.org/sitedocuments/pressrelease_view.asp?pressreleaseID=2082

    As stated in their goals “Stand With Us” has the right to “Effectively counter public misrepresentation and demonization of Israel”.

    http://www.standwithus.com/chapters/northwest/
    Jews and Jewish organizations have the right to contest any activity that they feel may be discriminatory.

    “Let’s put the shoe on the other foot: would it be appropriate for the U.S. consul general in East Jerusalem to be present at a meeting during which Palestinians planned to sue the State of Israel”

    Was Akiva Tor present at a meeting where it was planned to sue the federal government?.
    No, he was present at a planning meeting for a lawsuit against the Olympia food coop.
    I don’t know why he needed to be there and it is not the sort of thing that you would expect a consul to be doing in an official capacity (if he was there in an official capacity) but there you are, nothing sinister.

    Jews have the right to live as equal citizens both in Europe and in the U.S. free from discrimination however it may be disguised.

    “Walk tall, walk straight and look the world right in the eye
    That’s what my mama told me when I was about knee high
    She said son, be a proud man and hold your head up high
    Walk tall, walk straight and look the world right in the eye”

    http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/w/walktall.shtml

    Don’t fool yourself Richard, this is no innocent BDS campaign and thank G_d for men like Alan Dershowitz.

    1. You’ve just presented standard hasbara as if it truth, when it’s anything but. BDS is simply a movement seeking to end the Occupation. That’s it. There is no way to get to the hysterical position you take with regard to it, while still staying in the realm of fact & truth.

      Why would you bother to present a claim by ZOA here. Like SWU, it’s one of the most mendacious pro-Israel groups in this country. Totally reprehensible & not above fabricating quotations in order to smear world leaders like Desmond Tutu.

      Knowing what I’ve written here about SWU both in this post & many previous ones where I’ve enumerated carefully & deliberately its many sins of commission & omission, why would you attempt to defend it?

      I’m also offended by the inclusion of multiple links to groups & websites which violate my propaganda rules about linking. Link to credible, fair, balanced sites. Not pro Israel propaganda sites. If you can’t tell the diff. ask me & I’ll tell you which is which.

      Was Akiva Tor present at a meeting where it was planned to sue the federal government?

      I don’t know for a fact that Tor wasn’t present at a meeting involving planning for the suit. There were certainly many such meetings. Do you know for a fact that he never attended such a meeting? Do you know for a fact that Rob Jacobs never dissussed or consulted w. Tor about such a lawsuit? Do you know for a fact that Tor never gave substantive input or advice or direction concerning such a suit? No, you don’t. But you can be damn sure that SWU sees itself as the eyes & ears of the Israeli gov’t on these matters. I see almost no distinction bet. them. For all intents & purposes, AKiva Tor & Rob Jacobs are Siamese twins. When one sneezes the other catches cold.

      And certainly praising Der Dersh won’t win you many friends here.

      As for walking tall and looking people straight in the eye, if Akiva Tor and Rob Jacobs followed the advice in that song I’d still be opposed to their views, but at least they’d be honest, straightforward & above board in their actions, instead of sneaky, underhanded & mendacious.

    2. Jews everywhere are placing themselves outside the boundaries of decency by supporting Israeli policies. It may just be good taste and conscience to “discriminate” in the casual sense of the word both in the US and Europe and elsewhere. If they support a criminal state, then they must take the consequences.

      Israel hasn’t “looked the world in the eye” ever, ever. The state has lied about everything.,..now out of pure habit.

      BTW — do Palestinians have any rights at all. Can you list them for me?.

    3. “Jews have the right to live as equal citizens both in Europe and in the U.S. free from discrimination however it may be disguised.”

      This is surely one of the most ironic comments I have ever seen. Daniel, I have a very simple truth for you to chew on: If Israel’s Jews viewed the Palestinians as equals and treated them accordingly, there wouldn’t be an I/P conflict in the first place!

  3. The phrase “climate of fear for Jews” was flung at the me, along with the other three or four organizers of the BDS bit at the Port Townsend Food CoOp last summer.

    One of the places that slur was flung at me was at a meeting of the Port Townsend Food Co-op’s product research committee, some thirty people showed up to tell us that they were feeling a climate of fear, and that we were like, and I quote from my notes of that meeting: bigoted, divisive, disgusting, fringe, racist, like Hitler, like Stalin, political, prejudiced, reprehensible, ridiculous, and shameful. One of use was called a self-hating Jew, another a fake Buddhist. And this barrage was part of their attempt to explain how terrified *they* are – of us.

    Personally, I found being in a room with thirty angry, shouting people identifying themselves by religious affiliation and claiming that what I want to discuss was outside the bounds of freedom of speech – kind of scary.

    I *definitely* found the fact that Israel’s deputy consul general flew in from San Francisco to consult the group of scary, angry people on how to silence the BDS bid – scary.

    It seems to me that agents of foreign countries have no business in the internal discussions of cooperative groceries. The discussion within our community was fascinating and worthwhile, and while the Port Townsend Food CoOp’s board of directors eventually decided to refrain from taking any decision on the facts of the case – I am glad that we had the conversation, as a local community.

  4. Thanks for an interesting article. For further information (some redundant), here is a link to the Olympia BDS press release on the issue:

    http://www.olympiabds.org/2011/lawsuit-aims-to-punish-olympia-food-co-op-for-boycott-of-israeli-goods.html

    Something that is of at least local importance in this, that speaks to the motivations of the plaintiffs, and often tends to be left out, is that 3 out of the 5 plaintiffs did run for the Co-op board of directors last fall, and lost by a large margin to candidates that had publicly declared to be in support of the boycott, and now they are suing the people that won. Which is ironic given that the discourse that is out there from the plaintiffs says that one of the reasons for the suit is the lack of democratic process within the Co-op.

  5. Great analysis. I once gave you a phone call regarding an article I was writing for the Evergreen student newspaper regarding Akiva Tor’s visit last summer. Thanks for your insight and writing on this important development!

  6. So the boycott of Israeli products at the Olympia Co-op is a protest to the illegal and murderous actions of the Israeli government and military? And what of the illegal and murderous actions of the U.S. government and military? They pale in comparison and yet no one in Olympia is attempting to boycott U.S. products. Why this uneven application of principle? Because at its core the Olympia Co-op and its membership of disgruntled Greeners, ex-Greeners and aging hippie-wanna-be’s are following the prompts of the pro-Palestinian / anti-Israel organizations and duping themselves in the process.

    As a long-time resident of Thurston County and Evergreen grad (now living in Seattle) I have watched the pro-Palestinian / anti-Israel organizations wage a well designed effort to discredit and harm the state of Israel in Thurston County and especially at the Co-op where the blithering wasteland of politically correct hippies will grasp at anything that is presented well to them. Alleged? No Richard, confirmed. While you have been staying at home taking care of the kids, I have been living in the middle of this situation. Are these coop members anti-Semitic or anti-Israel? No, they just do not realize that their actions are by extension anti-Semitic.

    This PR campaign against Israel is world wide and I must give credit to the pro-Palestinian lobbies that use the media and top-flight organizational skills to hype their agenda to the public. Do Israeli supporters fight back? Yes. Are they as good? No…much worse actually… That one (or both) of these groups may have pandered up the Olympia crowd (and yes, they have both been heavily involved) is really irrelevant to the underlying principle that the actions of the Israeli government no more represents what the people of Israel want or feel any more so than the actions of the American government represent ours and the U.S. is much more murderous than ours.

    Sorry I failed to collect the plethora of anti-Israel literature spread around Evergreen and the Co-op over the years Richard, if I had ever imagined that I would have to substantiate the fact to a house-bound blogger I would have saved boxes of them…

    The issue is clear: pro-Palestinian groups wage campaign; pro-Israel groups counter; complete truth is not part of either agenda. Not news Richard, but your hyperbole on this issue serves no meaningful purpose other than to stir the pot making this world a lesser place…the exact opposite of what your site claims it is trying to do.

    1. And what of the illegal and murderous actions of the U.S. government and military?

      Off topic, Read the comment rules & stay ON TOPIC.

      at its core the Olympia Co-op and its membership of disgruntled Greeners, ex-Greeners and aging hippie-wanna-be’s [sic]

      That coop only has 30,000 members out of a community of at most a few hundred thousand. For you to attempt to marginalize their beliefs in this way is pathetic. If Israel saw them as you do it would never have wasted its time recruiting five fellow travelers and filing a lawsuit on their behalf (oops, at their direction).

      blithering wasteland of politically correct hippies

      I find this sort of ad hominem attack to lack substance, violate my comment rules, & to be just plain infantile. If that’s the extent of yr argument & you return & do the same, you’ll be moderated. Read the comment rules. Further, this isn’t a hasbara forum in which you feel the need t balance anti Israel hasbara. That’s not what I’m about nor is it what I allow in my comment threads. So if you’re here to score pts for the good guys, forget about it.

      their actions are by extension anti-Semitic.

      Another very specific & major comment rule violation. You will not confuse criticism of Israel w. anti Semitism. Do it again & you’ll be moderated.

      if I had ever imagined that I would have to substantiate the fact to a house-bound blogger I would have saved boxes of them

      I’m not house-bound you blithering idiot. What do think I am, an invalid? But I note that you haven’t been able to find a single piece of offending campus literature, & this assumes the offensive behavior continues as I write this & you could merely go on campus yrself & get it for appropriate display.

      The issue is clear

      When the hasbara brigade tell you the issue is “clear” you know they’re bringing out the big smoke machines.

      your hyperbole on this issue serves no meaningful purpose other than to stir the pot making this world a lesser place

      Only if you view the world as a place in which diminishing Israel Jewish rights by even a scintilla in order to increase the rights of Palestinians is treif. So you really mean that my goal is to make the world a lesser place for maximalist rejectionists like Stand With Us, you & the other legions in the hasbara brigade. To this I plead guilty.

    2. During the Birmingham bus boycott, people still rose in trains.

      During the farm workers’ grape boycott, people still ate lemons.

      The call to boycott is by the group that is asking for solidarity. It’s not a suggestion that people boycott things in general.

      Ben “Jammin”, I’m quite sure you understand that. You are just using that tired old objection because you don’t want your pet country to be boycotted. Nice try, but it won’t work on those of us who’ve heard it again and again and again and again. It’s not about the religion; it’s about supporting the victims. It’s not about Jews, it’s about Israel’s ongoing attack on Palestinians. Jews don’t have to support Israeli crimes. Really they don’t. That’s a choice that some of you make. Some don’t.

  7. Have we really stooped so low as a people to where some of us would bring civil action against a food coop?

    Another dark day for Jews and Israelis.

    I wish some of us would realize we are now our own worst enemies.

  8. I lived in Oly for years. These people at the Co-op really have no understanding what they’re doing let alone have any idea what’s going on in the Middle East. They do it because it makes them feel better…it’s one of the reasons I left Thurston County – to get away from those Co-op people!

  9. and if I still lived there I’d sue ’em for shits & giggles…I don’t need any Israelis telling me what to do!

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